Living Again
by futo-chan
Summary: In the aftermath of a terrible tragedy, will Rey Mysterio be able to cope? And when will he be able to accept love and begin living again?
1. Waking Up

Dave Batista swallowed and shifted his impressive weight from one foot to the other. "I don't know if you should try to do anything with him when he's asleep. What if he wakes up?"

"Well," the doctor said. "You're his friend. Calm him down if he does."

Dave frowned at that. He didn't like the look of all the large, stainless steel tools flickering in the hospital's bright artificial lights. The fact that they were going to be used to stitch Rey up made him like them even less.

Dave Batista had been secretly attracted to his close friend and coworker, Rey Mysterio, for years. Dave had superficially admired Rey's looks ever since he had met the luchador, but he had begun to develop a serious attraction only after the death of their mutual friend, Eddie Guerrero. Eddie's death had drawn Rey and Dave closer and ever since then they had been the best of friends. The affection Dave had felt ever since then was one-sided. Dave sensed this; almost painfully so every time the two of them were alone together.

Rey was so kind to him, so friendly, so trusting. And yet it never occurred to him to think of Dave as handsome or as an object of affection. But Rey had a big heart and his frequent hugs and kisses on the cheek were what Dave lived for. Unfortunately, Dave accepted those touches a little too hopefully, and he reasoned with himself on an almost daily basis that the presence of one extra kiss on the cheek was a legitimate reason to sustain his crush on Rey.

He always stayed close to Rey when he could and always hoped that Rey would one day see him in the same light. But Dave couldn't do more than hope quietly, and secretly, that their friendship would lead to other things. Dave couldn't steal Rey from his wife and children, not when Rey was so happily married, and so loving towards his kids.

As for now, though, Dave only wanted to be here for Rey in case he woke up while they were stitching him. He had come to the hospital as soon as he could, throwing a suitcase together and driving off practically right after getting off the phone with the hospital.

Rey had just come from surgery, where a huge gash in his right leg had been operated on. His muscles had been sewn back together in the correct places. Now he had to have the gash stitched up before he could receive another blood transfusion. Dave's secreted romantic feelings for Rey made him uncomfortable, to say the least, in this situation. After all, Rey was the last person he wanted to see with a serious injury. But the procedure had to be done.

He positioned himself to the left side of Rey's bed, where Rey's face was turned, and opposite of where the doctors, nurses and their equipment were.

Dave watched the little figure breathe quietly, his mouth covered by an oxygen mask. The machines around him pumped air, and monitored his vitals, expanding and contracting patiently.

A nurse shifted the blue surgical sheet material covering Rey's right thigh. She braced the leg as another nurse prepared the needle.

The doctor slipped the needle in through the gash and Dave looked away quickly. There was so much red, vulnerable flesh visible. He knew he had been disinfected before coming in here and that he and everyone else were wearing surgical masks, but still, that amount of exposed muscle worried him.

He watched Rey's face and couldn't help but glance back at the stitching every now and then.

"We will do three different rows of stitching, this is a long cut here, and not all of it is straight."

Dave nodded.

When he glanced up he saw a pair of huge, thick metal scissors slip near the gash, the thread in between its blades, threatening to bite down for the first time.

Batista glanced quickly at Rey's face again. He heard a soft sound and Rey's brow wrinkled and expanded, and his eyes cracked slowly open.

Batista gulped apprehensively as the needle closed in towards the gash.

Rey flinched and became fully awake.

He panicked and squeaked in his throat, scrambling a little, only able to move one of his arms, because the other was numb and full of IVs.

Rey was going to reach toward the cut leg, instinctively trying to fend off the perceived threat.

Batista grabbed Rey's hand and led it away from the gash.

"Rey-Rey, it's me, it's Dave."  
Rey lifted his eyes to Batista and tried to talk, but he made a strange sound and started, disturbed by the plastic tube in his throat. He became irritated by it and tried to cough it out.

"Rey, don't do that. Calm down. That's a breathing tube down your throat. You can't breathe on your own just yet. You were in an accident."  
Rey looked up at Dave fearfully, his eyes huge, his pupils fully dilated.

"Its okay, Rey. You've been under anesthesia for a while, and now they're trying to stitch your right calf up. Just sit still."

Rey breathed and tried to speak again.

Batista had Rey's hand in between his two. He squeezed it gently. "Shh, Rey-Rey, don't try to talk. I'm right here. Right here. It's okay. It might hurt a little, but its okay."

Rey quieted down. He turned his head apprehensively towards his right leg, saw all the people and the shiny metal tools and he quickly turned back to face Dave.

He squeezed his friend's hand.

Dave smiled sadly. "It's okay," he whispered soothingly. "Just sit still and it'll be over in a minute. I'm right here."

Rey kept his big brown eyes on Dave and stilled.

The nurse braced his leg again and Rey closed his eyes, afraid.

Batista rubbed Rey's fingers with his thumb. "Shh," he murmured.

Then he looked up and nodded the go ahead to the doctor.

The second row of stitching didn't hurt Rey much. The third didn't hurt him, either, until it reached his ankle, where some of his skin was swollen and they pulled the thread through a little too suddenly as they tied it up.

Rey felt a profound pinch and winced, whimpering.

Batista clenched his jaw at this. "Stop being rough with him, what's wrong with you?"

"We have to do a fourth row near his ankle. That's the best we can do. We can't just leave that area exposed, no matter how swollen the skin around it is."

They cut the third row of stitches very close to the skin and Rey flushed in pain and fear and began trembling.

Batista couldn't imagine what it must have been like for Rey to wake up and find himself in pain; suddenly numb, and helpless.

He rubbed Rey's hand encouragingly as he saw the little guy grow paler, near fainting as he shivered, the thread stabbing into him with each small stroke and pulling his swollen skin together, tight.

"Rey, squeeze my hand if it hurts."

Rey gripped Batista's hand as hard as he could. Then, finally, mercifully, the last row of stitching was cut and complete.

Rey didn't let up his grip. His leg was so sore and inflamed towards the ankle.

The nurses and doctor busied themselves with removing the stitching materials and bringing in the blood transfusion things.

When they were looking elsewhere, Batista shifted the hand not in Rey's grip and stroked Rey's cool, clammy cheek.

Rey opened his eyes slightly.

"Rey-Rey? You okay now?"

Rey blinked once in the affirmative.

Batista smiled. "I'm glad."  
Rey's eyelid began to drop. He felt so woozy from the loss of blood, so sore on his leg, and so tired.

He tried to stay awake and be with Dave. Maybe Dave could explain what was going on.

"It's all right. Go back to sleep," Dave murmured.  
Rey closed his eye and Batista laid Rey's loosened hand down beside him, tucking the small body up as much as possible.

A nurse came back in, followed by other with the packet of blood on an IV stand.

"Can you put him out for that? Give him a sedative?" Batista requested.

"Yes, I'll knock him out for a while."

Batista looked at Rey. "He's fading out, anyway. I just don't want him to be in any pain from the surgery."

They injected something into the IV stand once they had the blood transfusion firmly placed in Rey's arm.

Batista bent and kissed Rey's temple intimately, and Rey sighed once and drifted away.


	2. Dominik

Rey woke up very slowly, with one rustle at a time, one shift of his non IV-pricked arm at a time, and one half-kick of his uninjured leg at a time.

Dave sat and watched Rey from one of those cheap felt-covered hospital waiting room chairs that he'd dragged in there long ago. Rey had his own room in the I.C. U. and Dave felt like it might as well be his hotel room, because he spent so much of his days there.

He perked up and curiously watched Rey, dropping his magazine to the floor.

"Rey-Rey…?"

He poked his head out of the door and called a nurse in.

"Hey, he's waking up!"

He'd been told to tell them when Rey woke up.

He saw the doctor coming down the hall and he propped the door open for her with his foot as he turned and smiled at Rey.

"Hey, buddy."  
"Nnn…" Rey groaned. Then he touched his throat. "Dave…is the tube gone?"  
"Yeah, the tube's gone, you can breathe."  
Rey struggled to sit up.

The doctor came in through the door and Dave let it drift closed and he walked to the other side of Rey's bed than the one the doctor was going towards.

He helped Rey sit up, supporting his back with his big hands. He propped the pillows up for the weakened little body and Rey thanked him groggily.

"Gracias, Dave."  
Dave nodded, smiled, and straightened up.

"Hello, Mr. Gutierrez, how are you feeling today?" Dr. Sanjaya asked. She was a pretty, thirty-something year old Indian woman. And she was Rey's doctor.

Rey looked confused, as Dave thought he would.

"I-I'm...okay. Why am I here…?"

Dr. Sanjaya gave Rey a sympathetic look.

Fortunately, Rey didn't turn his head to see Dave's sad expression. Dave covered his mouth.

"Mr. Gutierrez…what is the last thing that you remember before the accident?"

Rey looked at her. Then he looked down at his lap. "I…I don't know."  
He looked up again and seemed frightened by this.

"That's all right, Mr. Gutierrez. That's to be expected. You will probably be unable to recall the majority of the day leading up to your accident."  
Rey swallowed. "I-um…I'm sorry, but I don't remember what…what type of accident was I in?"

She took a breath.

"Doctor Sanjaya, I can explain a little better," Dave volunteered.

Rey turned his head towards Dave and looked at him attentively.

Dave smiled reassuringly. "Rey, you and your family were on a plane headed to Florida for a family vacation. You know, the one you wanted to go on before Angie had the baby?"  
Rey nodded.

Dave continued. "It was you, Angie, Aalyah, and Dominik. And the plane made it here to Florida, but then it had engine problems, and it- it crash-landed."

"I was in a _plane crash_?" Rey asked, shocked.

"What- what happened? Dave, you have to tell me!" Rey said urgently, grabbing Dave's hand.

Dave looked up towards the Doctor. She nodded.

"Rey…Dominik…didn't make it."  
Rey jolted in a way that Dave thought was unbelievably quiet. It was like somewhere deep in Rey's spine, he felt a shock, and it stilled him. His eyes were so big that he looked like a deer that had felt a car hit its chest.

He slowly dropped his eyes and let go of Dave's hand.

He didn't close those wide eyes until they began to tear up. He tried to breathe.

"And-and Angie? And Aalyah? Are they-?"  
"Your wife, Angie, is in stable condition now, in the I.C.U." Dr. Sanjaya informed him. "And your daughter, Aalyah is stable as well, in a separate part of the I.C.U."  
Rey gazed up at her as though she held his heart in her hands- which she did, Dave found.

"And-and the baby…?"  
Rey's wife, Angie had been six months pregnant at the time of the accident. They had been trying for a while to have a third, final child, and when Angie was finally able to conceive she had had to stifle her husband.

"Oscar, wait to tell the news until maybe…three months along," she had requested.

"But Angie, that's such a long time from now, and I want to tell my parents, and Dave, and my uncle…hell, I'll even tell Mr. McMahon, if you let me."  
Rey had been so happy.

But the last try, he had made the mistake of telling friends, and even one little person in the media during an interview that his wife was pregnant.

He had been happy then, too, and he hadn't been thinking.

He felt terrible months later when Angie miscarried.

So he agreed to keep their third child a secret for a while. "Angie, I'll wait until the baby's _born_ to tell people about it, if you want me to. Whatever you want me to do." And he'd said it with a proud, tearful smile. He was such a devoted father, and tried so hard to be a good husband.

So, the life of their third child, even though the baby was only six months old and still within its mother, meant a lot to Rey despite the fact that he did not know the child at all yet, and couldn't have.

Dr. Sanjaya exhaled sadly. "I'm sorry, Mr. Gutierrez, but your wife was crashing while you were still in surgery. We were unable to get her consent or yours to perform an emergency delivery, so I had to make a judgment call in order to save her life."  
Rey looked at her and nodded sadly. "That's…that's all right. If it could save Angie, then that's what had to happen."  
"Your baby did not survive, I'm sorry. It was too premature."  
Rey nodded. He licked his lips anxiously. "And Angie…is she okay, now? Is she awake? Does she know?"  
Dr. Sanjaya clutched her clipboard to herself. "Your wife sustained some injuries to her head. She stabilized after the delivery, but she slipped into a coma."  
Rey swallowed. "Do you know if she'll ever wake up?"  
Dr. Sanjaya nodded. "We estimate by the end of this week she should regain consciousness. Her system may be stable for now, but her hormones and blood flow are fluctuating, due to the premature birth. We need to monitor her for a while."  
Rey smiled a small, hopeful smile. "By the end of the week? I'm so glad to hear you say that."  
Dr. Sanjaya nodded. "Yes."  
"Is my daughter awake? Can I see her?"  
"Aalyah is stable right now but you won't be able to visit her for at least another day."  
Rey frowned at little.

"You see, Mr. Gutierrez, after the plane crashed and medics discovered your family, you were found holding your daughter in your arms. A long piece of metal pierced your calf. You nearly bled out, but they got to you just in time."

Rey glanced down at his leg, understanding suddenly what had happened to it. One side of it needed stitching because that was the side that had been cut open further to remove the metal, and to have his muscles repaired. The metal hadn't gone all the way through his leg, so only one side of it needed attention.

"Was Aalyah all right? Why is she in the I.C.U.?" Rey asked, still confused.

"Because Aalyah was pierced with a metal rod as well. Through her back. It was close to her heart."  
Rey's eyes widened.

"It was a separate piece of the plane than what pierced your leg. There was nothing you could do, Mr. Gutierrez."  
Rey seemed to be processing this information and equating it to a whole pile of things that he could, in fact, have done.

Dave looked at Rey. He wanted to comfort him, but he was helpless.

"Doctor, um…?"  
"Sanjaya," she supplied.

"Dr. Sanjaya," Rey said with a sad smile. He offered his hand and she shook it.

"Nice to meet you."  
She smiled.

"I was wondering if I could ask you one last thing."  
"Of course, Mr. Gutierrez. What would you like to know?"  
"Well…it's two things, actually."  
"Shoot."  
"Am I going to get better?"  
"Yes. Once your leg heals, you will need some physical therapy in order to walk again, but for now you will need to use a wheelchair and we plan on keeping you for observation for another week."  
"By then…will Angie be able to come home? And will Aalyah?"  
"That is difficult to judge just yet, Mr. Gutierrez. It all depends on how quickly they're healing."  
Rey nodded slowly, thinking.

"Was that all…?"  
Rey looked up at her again. There was a palpable sadness in his face.

"I was wondering if I could go see my son. And the baby, too."  
She nodded.

"Mr. Batista, would you be willing to take him?"  
Dave nodded. "Yeah, of course."  
**

After Dr. Sanjaya left, Dave pulled back the covers.

"I don't like hospital gowns," Rey said softly, looking down at his. He eyed his leg and tried to shift it.

"Oh, no you don't," Dave chastised. He worked a hand behind Rey's back and scooped him up from under his thighs.

Rey braced himself against Dave, a little surprised to find himself in his friend's arms.

Dave eased him down into the wheelchair and handed him a blanket, tucking it over his legs.

"Dave, I'm not in a nursing home, take it easy."  
Dave smiled. "Yeah, well…it's cold where we're going."  
Rey looked up at Dave worriedly. "Is it?"  
"Yeah."  
Rey looked down at his lap and fiddled with the edges of his blanket. "Did you go in?"  
Dave swallowed and walked behind Rey, manning the wheelchair. He took Rey to the door and propped it open with a doorstop.

"No, I just looked in through the window in the door."  
Rey bit his lip. "Why didn't you go in?"

"You can. I just- I was just waiting for you."  
Rey nodded.

"Ready to go?"  
Rey took a breath. He seemed afraid, but this was one of those fears he definitely felt he had to face in life. He never would have guessed it would happen this way. He thought he'd be there for Dominik's death, if the poor boy died young. He thought it would be in a car or on a bike, or sometime possibly far in the future. Maybe even in the ring. He never gueseed he would wake up one day without the memory of his son's last day on earth, his son vanished forever, his life extinguished like the flame of a candle.

"I guess," Rey answered him.  
**

It_ was_ cold in there. An orderly propped a door open for Batista as he wheeled Rey in.

"What's their name?"  
"Dominik Gutierrez. And, my wife had a baby, and it died before we could name it."  
The orderly looked through the drawers in the giant metal filing cabinets on the walls. He found the letter G and went halfway down. There was a tag tied with a string hanging from the handle. It read "Gutierrez, Dominik."

Rey swallowed anxiously and his eyes widened horrifically as the drawer was pulled out. There was the body, right there. And so Rey had really woken up and Dominik was gone. Just like that.

"Dominik..." Rey said softly.

The orderly came over to him. "Your baby is in a different wing of the hospital now. We recently put in a morgue like this nearby the children's ward."  
Rey nodded in acknowledgement the way one nods when they've been jarred and shaken by an unnaturally strong force.

"Can you give us a minute?" Dave whispered.

The orderly nodded understandingly and went outside the door.

Rey looked at his son from a distance for a moment. The boy was covered by a cloth over his lap. He was naked otherwise, and his body was unusually pale. He had inherited his parents' gorgeous, caramel skin, but now he was a milkier shade. His mouth was barely closed and his soft pink lips wore a bluish tint. He looked like a slaughtered prince.

Dave had never been able to believe how much Dominik looked like his father. When the boy was younger, his face seemed to be straight out of Rey's elementary school pictures.

He turned to Rey, who had dropped his eyes and shakily lowered his face into his hands, crying quietly.

"Dominik…mijo…"

And then he heard Rey murmuring in a worried, prayer-like voice, "Lo siento no te pude proteger. Te amo. tu madre te ama ... Dios en el cielo, por favor, proteger a mi hijo y le perdone sus pecados …"

_I'm sorry I couldn't protect you. I love you.__Your mother loves you too...God in heaven, please protect my son and forgive him his sins..._

Rey was breathing in gasps.

Dave had never had a son, and he had never lost a child. He tried to imagine one of his daughters lying there and put himself in Rey's place, but he couldn't quite make it.

All he could think was, _Jesus, Rey, you didn't deserve this. Dominik didn't deserve this._

He watched Rey wipe his face after a while and harden himself. Dave saw that Rey didn't want him to see him cry.

"Dave…can you help me over to him? I want to say goodbye."

Dave moved Rey's wheelchair closer.

Rey pulled himself up with difficulty, and held onto the arms of the chair. He gazed down at his son's face for the last time.

"Dave…do you think he was in any pain?"

"They didn't tell you the details 'cause they're still busy with Aalyah and Angie, but…but they told me what happened to him."  
"Was it quick…?" Rey asked softly, smoothing the hair out of Dominik's face lovingly.

Dave swallowed. "Yeah, it was quick. He died instantaneously, Rey. His skin's bruising as we speak, but he knocked his forehead hard. He died of blunt force trauma."

Rey swallowed. "What on earth did we all get knocked around for? I'm sure we were all strapped in, we always do. How is it that I ended up with a metal rod through my leg and Dominik hit his head if we were still in our seats?"  
Dave shrugged. "Rey, it…it knocked everybody in the plane around pretty bad. It wasn't just you and your family. A lot of people…didn't make it. It was a really bad crash."  
Rey turned back to Dominik and his shoulders hunched angrily. "My son dies, and I can't even remember how…I don't remember…I don't even remember getting on the plane, why can't I…?"  
Batista shuffled over to Rey. "Don't blame yourself for that. You're just drawing a blank. Dr. Sanjaya said it's better for you that way, Rey, you don't want to remember what happened."

"I-I have a right to know…what killed my son…I want to remember him, if I told him I loved him, if he was hurting…I need to know that. I can't sleep at night just knowing he's in some fucking drawer in an ice cold hospital morgue!"

The echoes of Rey's voice reverberated around the chilling metal room.

Rey sniffed and his lips trembled, but he managed to stave off the tears so close to the surface of his eyes.

He bent and kissed Dominik one last time. He blessed him with the sign of the cross and murmured, hand on his son's heart.

"Si Dios quiere, voy a verte de nuevo algún día. Te quiero, Dominik. Adiós."

_God willing, I will see you again one day. I love you, Dominik. Goodbye._

Then he collapsed back into his wheelchair and Dave looked at him.

"Get me out of here," Rey said softly, fiercely.

Dave nodded and got the orderly again.

He wheeled them both out before Rey could see his son being closed back into the cabinet, all alone in his drawer full of cool, uncaring darkness.


	3. Aalyah and Angie

**Congratulations to Rey, for winning his second World Heavyweight Championship! I am SO proud of you, Rey-Rey! **

**Sorry I'm writing a very sad story in the middle of a great run for Rey in real life, but what can you do? I didn't coordinate his title run, that's for sure. **

**(If I could schedule his title runs, he would have way more belts by now! LOL) **

**I thought it was great that Rey won the Fatal Fourway and the World Championship on**

**Father's Day, especially since Rey has kids. That must have been a great present for him.**

**Anyway…I have some weird request for you, my reviewers. **

**Thing 1: I read this one fanfic a while back that was called "So Cold" or something like that and it involved Rey Mysterio X Dave Batista trapped in a car that broke down on a snowy night. I forget the author's name. If you know the name of the fic, why it's off this site, or the name of the author, please let me know in a review of "Living Again". **

**Strange thing to ask, I know, because the author probably just switched to a different site. But if the author was one of you guys, please be kind enough to remind me! And I'm sorry if I forgot that it was one of you who wrote it! I LOVE THAT FIC SO MUCH! WHERE DID IT GO?**

**Thing 2:** Diathawwedevil, **I don't know if you're reading this fic, but remember waaay back when you reviewed Ch. 20 of "Afraid of the Dark" and you gave me this link?**

http:/diamond43221./art/The-silver-soul-147362933

**It doesn't work! I forgot to tell you! So sorry! I would love to see your pretty picture or whatever it is, and I'm so sorry I took so long to notice the link broke! The truth is, I didn't remember to try the link the first time I read your review, and then I forget about the link entirely, and then, when I was rereading some reviews this summer, I saw the link again. GAH! The embarrassment!**

**Thank you, and enjoy the angst. Please review! **

They were sitting in another cold, cold room together and Rey was staring at the body of yet another one of his children.

"So small…" Rey murmured. He was clearly in awe as he sat there in his wheelchair, gazing at the form of his third child.

The baby was only six months old, and had been all but pried out of its mother's stomach in order to save her. It had cried a little, but not strong, loud cries like Dominik and Aalyah had given when they were born. Its mother had been unconscious and its father was in no condition to hold it. It was not yet fully developed, and its lungs were weak. It was sent to the N.I.C.U. It didn't survive the night, and it was never truly able to catch its first breath.

Rey looked at it lying on a tray-like metal slab, almost in disbelief that it was his child, but in a way, instinctively, he knew it was.

He narrowed his eyes a little, almost squinting at it. He shifted forward in his wheelchair, and reached his hand out towards it. He saw its half-closed fingers, so incredibly tiny, and he eased the pad of his index finger against its palm.

He sat there for a moment and was surprised that it didn't squeeze his finger. It looked like it was alive; only sleeping; only sleeping. Its skin was bluish, but not quite as blue as Dominik's had been.

"It…it was a boy…" Rey said softly.

Dave looked at Rey, perking up. He hadn't expected Rey to be able to speak just yet.

"Oh," Dave responded. "So-so it went boy, girl, boy for you?" he asked, trying to lighten the mood.  
Rey brought his thumb over his baby's hand and gave it a gentle squeeze in between his fingers.

"It went…boy, girl, girl, boy," Rey said softly.

Dave looked at Rey.

"Dominik…Aalyah…and then Angie miscarried. And then…here's another little guy…"

Rey smiled very sadly and bent and kissed his baby.

Dave had forgotten about Angie's miscarriage. He watched Rey anxiously, hoping his friend wouldn't take the baby's death too hard. It had never breathed before him, after all. How much could it possibly mean to him?

Dave bit his lip. He knew that Rey was too religious and had too big of a heart not to care about the little thing. To Rey, a child that died shortly after birth, that he'd never even named, let alone been able to care for, was his child just as much as Dominik and Aalyah, who were breathing, talking, human beings who he had seen millions of times in his life.

"Hola, mijo. Yo soy tu papi," Rey murmured, leaning close to the baby and kissing its forehead.

_I'm your daddy._

Dave blinked; surprised that Rey was showing affection to a child he had never met. Not only that, but Rey was introducing himself to the child.

"Lo siento no pude conocerte. Pero yo te amo, y tu madre te quiere, también."

_I'm sorry I couldn't meet you. But I do love you, and your mother loves you, too. _

"Me gustaría haber visto ... y que tu madre podría haberte visto. Eres tan hermoso..."

_I wish I could have seen you...and that your mama could have seen you. You are so beautiful..._

Rey gave his newborn son one last kiss and one last squeeze at his hands before he blessed him and said a little prayer.

Then Rey looked to Dave with a peacefully sad gaze on his face and asked to be led back to his room.

"I need to make preparations with a church to get a priest over here and give them their Last Rites," Rey said in the hallway.  
Dave blinked, not really knowing what that ceremony was, exactly. He wasn't Catholic like Rey, and the sheer multitude of important ceremonies that Rey seemed to always be mentioning in relation to his children perplexed Dave. He knew most of them, and actually, now that he thought about it, he did remember that the Last Rites were supposed to be given to a dying Catholic person by a Catholic priest. But he frowned as he chewed it over and wheeled Rey down the hallway back to his room. Could you still give the person their Last Rites if they had already died?

He didn't know for sure, but what he did know for sure was that he couldn't ask Rey such an insensitive question.

So Dave took Rey back to his room and sat at his bedside again.

"Dave?"  
"Yeah, buddy?" Dave responded, perking up as he always did to the sound of Rey's sonorous voice.

"Did you see him?"  
"You mean…the baby?"  
"Yeah."  
Dave shook his head. "No, I think only parents are allowed to see the kids in the N.I.C.U. They don't want people to contaminate anything in there."  
Rey nodded.

"Why…?"  
"Um, well…I just thought…I was just hoping to God that he didn't suffer, you know?" Rey raised his face to Dave, wearing a tearful smile.

Dave swallowed and nodded, shifting around uncomfortably. "Yeah, me too."  
Rey lowered his eyes to his lap and fiddled with his hospital gown, seeing that Dave didn't know what to say to him. He couldn't blame the guy, it must have been very difficult to see your friend in the hospital, and try to come up with ways to comfort him while his family was falling apart all around him.

While Rey sat and quietly worried over his sons' fates, Dave watched over him.

Dave looked at Rey and wondered how it was that Rey could be so much more concerned over the pain of his children than over his own pain. After all, Rey was still alive and suffering. His children had already passed. And yet, Rey kept asking Dave questions about whether Dominik suffered, or whether the baby suffered.

_What about you, Rey? You've gotta be suffering, too. _

_Please let me help you. I don't know how, though…God, I wish I knew how. _

Rey was handling Dominik's death better than Dave thought he would. He was eating all right, still accepting treatment, not laying on his stitches or snapping at any of the nurses or Dr. Sanjaya.

He was very quiet, but Dave couldn't blame him. He was on pins and needles the rest of that first day awake, wondering if Angie and Aalyah would be all right and vaguely frightened by the discovery that he and his entire family had been in an accident, and that his oldest and youngest children were dead.

They spent a quiet day together and Rey ate his hospital meals and sat quietly, flipping through a Bible Dave brought for him. That was the one thing Rey had asked for, was a Bible.

He spent most of the remaining day reading it, or drifting off to sleep. He was still groggy from all of the drugs he'd had in himself during the surgery.

Rey had already called a priest who had agreed to come to the hospital soon and perform the Last Rites for Dominik and the baby. They had yet to schedule a date. Rey wanted to wait until Angie woke up to do that.

As for right now, Rey had fallen asleep reading again and Dave was pretending to focus on a fitness magazine in his hands. A piece of him wanted to simply read, and try not to worry about Rey. But the majority of him was too interested in Rey, too devoted to him not to watch him.

He blinked a little and bet himself that he could spend maybe two more seconds trying to read a page on a subject he liked instead of gazing at the sleeping little body of the handsome Latino man before him.

He lost that bet and he raised his eyes, watching Rey silently.

His soft, pink lips were parted, and he breathed slowly, steadily, his chest rising and lifting his flimsy hospital gown material, his small, lovely hands barely clutching at the book on his lap.

_Come on, Dave, why do you keep doing this to yourself? You know Rey's married. You know he loves her. Stop looking at him like this._

But he couldn't.

Rey groaned a little all of a sudden and shifted. Dave saw he would knock the book off of himself and that it would most likely clatter to the floor and wake Rey up. He didn't want that. He wanted Rey to get some shut-eye, and to be calm for a while. He didn't want more awake hours of awkward conversation with Rey looking so sad, and so afraid. And he wanted to watch Rey sleep, at least for a little longer.

So when Rey shifted he stood up quickly and rushed over to catch the book. He caught it just in time, and glanced at Rey's face. Rey was still asleep.

Dave slipped the bookmark into the Bible and set it carefully at Rey's bedside table. He was about to head back to his chair when he paused.

_Go on. You know you want to. It won't hurt. It won't hurt anybody at all._

He turned around again and watched Rey for a moment, on his side, now, and so pretty, so quiet, so perfect.

He made a soft sound and Dave thought maybe he was cold.

Anxiously, he crept close, he paused and watched Rey's face, and he took up the blanket he'd brought Rey and set onto the foot of the bed. He unfurled it as silently as he could manage and looked at Rey shuffle around in his sleep. He wasn't comfortable having that one leg all wrapped up and stitched, but that couldn't be helped.

Dave let him settle himself out and then he tucked his blanket around Rey's shoulders.

His face was so close to Rey's face, to his soft, soft, skin. To his full, sweet mouth.

His fingers were only faintly touching Rey's warm body. He was close enough to-

Dave started a little. That last thought had surprised him.

He pulled away, as though he'd been shocked by an electric outlet.

_What are you thinking? His kids are dead, what are you thinking?_

He stood back. He hadn't touched Rey, and he wouldn't. He stood there sheepishly, watching over Rey, feeling embarrassed at himself for wanting what he did, and slightly ashamed, because of the state of Rey's life.

But he saw that Rey wasn't shifting around anymore with his blanket around him. And he smiled a little to himself, and exiled himself back to his chair, where he knew he wouldn't have the guts to get up to touch Rey again. He sat and watched Rey sleep from there for about an hour. It was one of the best hours he'd ever spent in his whole life.

The next day started off eerily, and it was all downhill from there.

Rey woke up like he had before, with little shuffles and grunts, still unaccustomed to his injuries, and to being bedridden.

On the previous days, Rey would look up at Dave as he came in first thing in the morning in an attempt to be the first thing Rey saw when he opened his eyes.

Dave could never wait to have those soft, doe eyes on him again. They were like small, warm lamps, and Rey's smile heated his heart even further. He would smile back.

"Buenos dias, Rey-Rey."  
Rey would grin at his bad Spanish accent. "Morning, Dave."

This morning though, was not like that. Dave didn't get to Rey first, as hard as he tried to. The doctors did.

And so when Dave rushed out of bed in the morning, dressed, grabbed a quick breakfast at his hotel and hurriedly drove to Rey's hospital, he was already in second place in the race.

When he reached Rey's room he waited outside it and knocked on the door, noticing that there were voices inside.

"Come in," Dr. Sanjaya said.

Dave came in.

Rey was awake, and he looked incredibly worried; on the verge of tears again.

"But- but Doctor Sanjaya, you told me yesterday that you thought Angie would wake up soon," Rey rambled, his voice soggy and tearful.

Dave frowned and looked at Rey's doctor. "What's going on? What did I miss?"  
Dr. Sanjaya turned to him, "I was just informing Mr. Gutierrez that I was mistaken about the initial recovery time I gave for his wife."  
Dave's eyes widened, alarmed. "Wait, what are you saying?"

"Doctor, what's happening? Is Angie okay? I need to see her, please!"

"Mr. Gutierrez, your wife is still stabilizing."  
"You said she was stable yesterday," Rey said worriedly.

"Mr. Gutierrez-"

"Rey, just calm down."  
"Calm down? Dave, my son's already dead, and they took our baby, because they said Angie would be stable if they did that!" Rey shouted.

Dave shut up.

Rey turned his wet, penetrating gaze back on the doctor.

"Is she-" he shut his eyes and opened them again. "Is she or is she not all right?"

Dr. Sanjaya looked at him. "I'm afraid I can't say when she will recover, Mr. Gutierrez. Your wife has taken a sudden turn for the worse. Her body's hormones are out of proportion. It is reacting as though she is still pregnant."  
"But-but what does that mean for Angie?"  
"Your wife's body is trying to protect the life of her baby, and so her own health is deteriorating."  
"But…but the baby's not inside her, anymore."  
"I know, Mr. Gutierrez. I'm sorry. That's the risk we had to take with performing the induced birth. Her body could have accepted it as a natural birth and stabilized, but it seems to have gone the other way. Her body does not recognize that the baby is missing, because she did not carry it to its full term."

Rey swallowed and squeezed his nightgown tightly. "But you said she'd be all right, yesterday. Why did you…why did you tell me that?"  
Dr. Sanjaya looked at Rey apologetically with tears in her eyes. She bit her lip to keep from crying and maintain a level of professionalism. Her mistake had been sad for her, but for Rey, it cost him his baby, and maybe his wife, too. His whole life would be in ruins, now, because of her mistake.

"I am so sorry, Mr. Gutierrez. It was…it was an error in judgment on my part. Your wife did appear to be getting better yesterday. Until today, she didn't show any signs that her system didn't recognize the baby was gone."

Rey didn't know what to say. He recognized the guilt in her voice, and that made his blood run cold. He rejected the thought immediately, not wanting to believe for a moment that the mother of his children could be on death's door.

He dropped his eyes and didn't speak, just sat there, chewing his lip, and trying not to burst into tears.

Dave stood there, shell-shocked, and perfectly aware— more so than Rey, who always had hope, even in hopeless situations— that Dr. Sanjaya had essentially delivered the wrong diagnosis prematurely in regards to Angie. And not only that, but now here she was, all but delivering a death sentence for the poor woman.

Dave's brow furrowed and he clenched his fists. He noticed the lack of lines on Dr. Sanjaya's face, her young, curvy frame. He noted to himself that she must have graduated college not too long ago. And he swallowed bitterly, noting that an inexperienced doctor, of all things, might be the sole cause of a storm of heartbreak in Rey's near future.

Worst of all for Dave, though, was noticing this, and then recognizing shortly afterwards that there was little he could do to stop any oncoming tragedy.

There was a hurricane of distraught silence building in the room.

"I will keep you informed about her condition," Dr. Sanjaya said quietly, heading for the door.

"Wait."  
It was Rey's voice.

Dr. Sanjaya turned her head and looked at him.

"You won't let me see Angie, will you?"  
Dr. Sanjaya shook her head. "We can't let you see her. She's in a clean room in the I.C.U. Everything in there is disinfected. We don't want her to come into contact with any contaminants until she stabilizes."

Rey swallowed. He figured that was the case.

"Then I want to see my daughter."  
"Mr. Gutierrez-"  
"You said she was stable yesterday. Is she still stable, or not?"

Rey's voice had an unusual level of authority in it. Dave almost had to do a double-take to make sure that that was still his friend speaking that way.

"Aalyah is stable today," Dr. Sanjaya confirmed.

"Is she awake? Can I see her?"  
"She's sleeping for the moment."  
"Can I go see her?" Rey pressed.

Dr. Sanjaya caved. "Aalyah is not recovering very well, Mr. Gutierrez. She may not-"  
"I don't care about that right now," Rey said icily. His fists were clenched. "I want to see my daughter."

So that was how it came to be that Dave wheeled Rey over to see Aalyah in the I.C.U.

"Rey, I don't think your parents are going to make it over here from Mexico," Dave said.

Rey breathed. "Yeah, I know. It'll take forever for them to cross the border, with all the crap they put down there now."  
Dave gulped. U.S.-Mexico border security was obviously a sensitive matter with Rey, especially since both his parents were from Mexico and he had lived there for some time in his childhood. Also, he had been given U.S. citizenship only because his parents had chosen to cross the border to have him be born in California for that purpose.

Rey was for all intents and purposes, entirely American, and entirely Mexican at the same time.

Rey sighed. "They'll make it to my house in California at some point. I don't know when they'll get over here to Florida, though."  
"Yeah," Dave acknowledged awkwardly.

Rey dropped the subject about his parents and moved on to Angie's. He thought it somewhat funny that Dave was reluctant to step on his feelings regarding Mexican border issues, when that was the last thing on his mind. His feelings were entirely focused on the health of his family.

"Angie's parents are flying over from California. They'll be here in a couple of days."

"Okay."  
"So don't be surprised. There's no Mexican invasion going on," Rey teased, poking fun at Dave's tension.

Dave chuckled a little and looked down at Rey. "You are so crazy."  
Rey smiled a small smile. And then he reached his daughter's door.

"Are you Mr. Oscar Gutierrez?" an orderly asked.  
"Yes. I'm here to visit my daughter Aalyah."

The orderly, a tall, young black man, looked at the list of visitors. "Oh, yes. Dr. Sanjaya called and said you were coming."

Rey smiled, relieved.

The orderly took a look at Dave, sized him up, and wondered vaguely if he was Rey's bodyguard. "Only family members are allowed in, sir. I'll have to ask you to wait outside."  
"Sure thing," Dave said calmly. He looked down at Rey. Rey looked up at him.

"Will you be okay out here?" Rey asked him.

Dave chuckled. "I was gonna ask you if _you'd_ be okay. But yeah, I brought a book, I'll be fine."

Dave held up a cheap paperback demonstratively and pointed at a waiting bench. "Take all the time you want, I'm not in a hurry. I'll be out here when you're ready to go back to your room."  
Rey smiled gratefully, obviously impressed by Dave's gallantry.

What Rey didn't know was how much Dave lived to see those grateful smiles.

"Thanks, man," Rey said, holding out his hand. Dave bent and they bro-hugged each other, Dave patting Rey gently on the back, and letting his heart swell for a moment to be so near Rey.

And then that moment was over, and Rey was waving goodbye and being wheeled off into the compartment where he would be sterilized and given a mask and gloves.

Dave heard the orderly ask Rey if he could stand, and Rey said, "On _one_ leg, I think."

Dave smiled when he heard the orderly chuckle at Rey's light-heartedness. He had a very strong spirit, and he could weather a lot with a great deal of patience.  
So Rey stood like a flamingo and was sterilized before he limped into his daughter's room and sat down beside her in a sterilized chair. He breathed heavily, not used to moving so much. His leg hurt. But it was worth it.

There was his daughter: asleep, breathing, and best of all- alive.

Rey gazed at her. She had a huge section of her chest covered in gauze. It looked very ominous to him.

Her arm was stuck with an IV and she had a pink, plastic pulse monitor on her fingertip.

He had never seen his daughter, his little nine-year-old princessa, so old in appearance. The skin on her small, pink lips was dry and she bore dark circles under her eyelids.

Rey wanted to see her more than anything in the world at this moment. He couldn't see his wife, and his other kids were gone from him forever.

He steeled himself and thought of what to say to his daughter. She trusted him so unconditionally…he knew she would ask him why this was happening to her. Why she was in pain.

_Why, why why? You're her father; you have to answer her questions. You have to make her feel safe, and like there's still hope. I think she could get better. Aalyah's very strong, like her mother, I think she can get better…_

So Rey reached out his hand and took Aalyah's.

Slowly, her eyelids fluttered and lifted. She turned her head and raised her pretty, doe-brown eyes to her father's doe-brown eyes.

Rey was smiling beneath the surgical mask he'd been given.

"Hola, princessa," Rey whispered.

"Hola, Daddy," Aalyah breathed. There was a tube in her throat that helped her get air. She was breathless, otherwise.

Rey's eyes glistened and he sat there, wanting to tear the mask off his face to hug and kiss her, but her couldn't.

He just sat and rubbed her hand with his thumb.

"Did they tell you that we were in an accident…?" Rey asked softly.

"Yeah," Aalyah breathed.

Rey bent and kissed her hand through the fabric of his mask, which made the little girl smile brilliantly. "You're so silly, Daddy," she said.

Rey chuckled and squeezed her hand. "Yeah. Yeah, mija, I know."  
They sat peacefully for a second. "Do you know about your brother, baby girl?"  
"Yeah," Aalyah said quietly, sad, now. "They told me he…" she breathed and her whole chest rose with it. So she couldn't finish a sentence without that tube assisting her. She was in bad shape. Worse than Rey had thought she would be.

"He hit his head. And he died."  
Rey nodded. "Yeah. That's what they told me, too."  
Aalyah took a breath.

"Daddy…?"

"Yes, baby girl?"  
"I'm sad that Dominik died, Daddy…" she sniffed.

Rey leaned forward and stroked her hair out of her eyes and petted her face. "Shh, no, no no. That's okay. It's okay to be sad for him. He's you brother. I know you love him. I love him, too."  
Aalyah sniffed, eyes full of saltwater.

Rey caressed her cheek and she stilled after a while. "I'm going to miss him, too, it's okay. I'm sad, too," Rey murmured.

Aalyah looked up at him, remembering something she wanted to ask. "Daddy…is Mommy okay?"

Rey took Aalyah's hand in both of his and met her eyes. "Mommy is…is in a different room, near here. They won't let me see her, because I could make her sick. But she's not awake yet, mija. She's just not awake, yet."  
Rey didn't know how else to explain it. There was a chance that Angie could still get better, and no matter how slim he knew that chance was, he didn't want to scare his daughter and tell her that her mother was dying before he knew for sure.

"And….what about the…the baby?" Aalyah asked, breathing in between practically each word, she was so anxious.

Rey rubbed her fingers sadly. "They had to take the baby out of Mommy's tummy."  
"So…so it was born, already? Is it…okay…?" Aalyah gasped, excited, not understanding that the baby being born early was not a good thing at all.

Rey rubbed her fingers. "He was born too soon, mija. He was supposed to stay inside your mother for three more months."  
Aalyah's eyes widened when she realized simultaneously that she had had a baby brother, and he was already gone. It was a he. Her father had called it a 'he'. And she realized too, that it died.

"It was a boy…?" Aalyah asked quietly.

Rey nodded morosely. "Yes, mija. You had a little brother."  
Aalyah smiled tearfully. "But he died too? Like…like Dominik?"  
Rey nodded. "Yes. He and Dominik, they both…both passed away, mija."  
Aalyah laid there and tried to take that in. "They're both in heaven, now, though…right, Daddy?"

Rey paused for a moment. Then he nodded fiercely. "Yes. Yes, they are. You're right, Aalyah. They're in heaven, now."  
Aalyah smiled. "That's good."  
"Yeah. Yeah it is. So we shouldn't be too sad for them, because they're happy now, and they're together. And they're with God. God will take care of them for us until we see them again, okay, Aalyah?"  
Aalyah smiled and a couple of tears of relief rolled down her face. "Okay."

Rey kissed her hand again and she smiled wider.

"Daddy…?"  
"Yes, baby girl?"

"Are you going to be okay?"  
That hit Rey like a truck backing over on top of him.

_Will I ever be okay again after this?_

But he managed to start his voice up again and speak. "Yes. It's just that I can't walk like normal for now. I have stitches on one of my legs."  
"Oh."  
"Some metal went through my leg. Not all the way through, though. Just like the one that went through your chest."  
Aalyah understood. "But mine went…all the way through."  
Rey nodded. He felt a chill, at that. They had told him he had almost bled out, but that the metal had only pierced one side of his leg. If he'd almost been a goner, with only his leg hurt on one side, what chance did Aalyah have, with her chest pierced all the way through?

Rey sat with his daughter a while longer and then he saw she was getting tired again. "You can go back to sleep, mija. I just wanted to see you. Just to see how you were doing."  
"Okay, Daddy."

Rey limped up and kissed her cheek through his mask.

She smiled. "Daddy, can you…come see me mañana?"

Rey beamed and nodded as he stood on his one good leg. "Yes. I will."  
"Maybe you could…see Mommy tomorrow, too."

Rey nodded. "That would be nice, Aalyah."

He watched her. And he hoped so much, and so hard that she would make it.

"Te amo."

That was all he said as he stood there. That was all he could manage to say.  
"Te amo, Daddy."

And he went out of the room.

Dave asked Rey how it went and Rey smiled, saying it was great to see his daughter again. Dave was happy for him, and glad to see a smile on Rey's face.

They both thought everything would work out all right.

One more day went by, during which, Dave was able to be the first to see Rey wake up, and Rey was able to see his daughter. But Rey was unable to see his wife.

A day after that, Rey was finally permitted to see Angie. It went pretty much like how his visits to Aalyah had gone- Dave would wheel him down to the decontamination area, Rey would be disinfected and limp inside while Dave waited outside. And like his visits with Aalyah, Angie was asleep when Rey came in.

However, when Rey sat down beside his wife, Angie wouldn't wake up.

She was still in a coma, they'd told him. And her vitals were stable that day, but not every day.

Rey sat there sadly; silently for a long time, simply holding her hand and trying to coax her to wake up. It was when he kissed her and she didn't make a move that tears came to his eyes and he realized that she wouldn't wake up.

He decided not to tell his daughter that her mother would never wake up again.

But while he was there, he couldn't help but speak to Angie. He told her he loved her, that he missed her, and about his condition. He told her Aalyah was all right for now, but that the doctors always warned him that she was in a fragile state. He told her he wasn't sure if Aalyah would live. He asked her what to tell their daughter about that.

He didn't get a response.

He told her about her baby, and how wonderful he would have been if he had lived. He told her about Dominik. He told her about herself, even. He told her how the doctors had gotten his hopes up at first, only to crush them later.

"And now, I…I'm really scared, Angie. I don't know what to do. I don't know what to tell Aalyah about this, and I don't know why it's happening…and I don't know what I'll do if you don't make it."  
Rey cried for a while with her, holding her hand, pleading her to wake up. When she didn't, he brought himself away after another kiss. He went back to his room for a while and then went to see Aalyah.

She asked him how her mother was.

Rey said she looked like Sleeping Beauty, sound asleep.

He didn't tell her none of his kisses would wake her.


End file.
